ATHANASIUS

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• ATHANASIUS (noun)
  The noun ATHANASIUS has 1 sense:

1. (Roman Catholic Church) Greek patriarch of Alexandria who championed Christian orthodoxy against Arianism; a church father, saint, and Doctor of the Church (293-373)

  Familiarity information: ATHANASIUS used as a noun is very rare.

• ATHANASIUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(Roman Catholic Church) Greek patriarch of Alexandria who championed Christian orthodoxy against Arianism; a church father, saint, and Doctor of the Church (293-373)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Athanasius; Athanasius the Great; Saint Athanasius; St. Athanasius

Instance hypernyms:

Church Father; Father; Father of the Church ((Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman Catholic Church some were later declared saints and became Doctor of the Church; the best known Latin Church Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom)

Doctor; Doctor of the Church ((Roman Catholic Church) a title conferred on 33 saints who distinguished themselves through the orthodoxy of their theological teaching)

saint (a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization)

theologian; theologiser; theologist; theologizer (someone who is learned in theology or who speculates about theology)

Domain category:

Church of Rome; Roman Catholic; Roman Catholic Church; Roman Church; Western Church (the Christian Church based in the Vatican and presided over by a pope and an episcopal hierarchy)

 Context examples 

So urgent a message had not been issued within the memory of old lay-brother Athanasius, who had cleaned the Abbey knocker since the year after the Battle of Bannockburn.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All these were duly packed away deep in the traveller's scrip, and above them old pippin-faced brother Athanasius had placed a parcel of simnel bread and rammel cheese, with a small flask of the famous blue-sealed Abbey wine.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sleepy old brother Athanasius, at the porter's cell, had a fleeting vision of twinkling feet and flying skirts; but before he had time to rub his eyes the recreant had passed the lodge, and was speeding as fast as his sandals could patter along the Lyndhurst Road.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)